Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D. is a fifth generation Kansan whose career has focused on making a difference in people’s lives on the local, state, national and international levels.

Lt. Governor Colyer graduated from Thomas More Prep High School in Hays before earning his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1981 and his Masters Degree from Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. He returned home for medical school, receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Kansas in 1986.

After finishing medical school, his residency included training in general surgery at the Washington Hospital Center; plastic surgery at the University of Missouri-Kansas City; and Craniofacial/Pediatric Plastic Surgery in Dallas.

In 1988, Dr. Colyer was selected to participate in the White House Fellows Program, serving under Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush. As a White House Fellow, he was assigned to the Executive Office of the President and Agency for International Development, where he learned about international aid and development, which would lead him to the next step in his career.

After completing his medical training and the White House Fellows program, Dr. Colyer volunteered through the International Medical Corps in numerous war-zones, including Iraq, Rwanda, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan, to bring medical care to those in desperate need. In 1999, his work was featured on 60 Minutes, PBS and in People magazine which described him as "from Kansas, driven by conscience.”

On his return to Kansas, Dr. Colyer still had a drive to serve his community, although now in a very different capacity. He was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 2006 and then to the Kansas Senate in 2008. As a freshman legislator, the House Speaker selected him to serve as Chairman of the 2007 Legislative Health Reform Task Force. He also authored major health reforms including expansion of S-CHIP premium assistance, extending COBRA insurance for the unemployed and a plan to control health insurance costs

Dr. Colyer married the former Ruth Gutierrez in 1992 and they have three daughters, Alexandra, Serena and Dominique.